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One of Fulano’s recurring themes is that Mexicans fail to take personal responsibility for their actions. It is always “somebody else” who has caused Mexico’s problems. They blame the drug war and violence in Mexico on America’s demand for drugs, as if somebody put a gun to the head of all these cartel bosses and made them export drugs to the US. It’s as if they had no choice but to follow the voices in their heads.

Well, now we have further proof of this national group think. The Archdiocese of Mexico City has prepared a training manual for priests that teaches Satan is considered responsible for the violence plaguing the country. Beheadings, multiple murders, torture and maiming of people are practices that appear frequently in Mexico, especially in areas disputed by the drug cartels. The Church is convinced that behind all these aberrations operate the evil forces of Satan.

With the consent of Cardinal Norberto Rivera, who in July 2008 said, “every priest is called to fight the evil in our land,” Father Fidel Pérez Rodríguez of the III Episcopal Vicariate, wrote a guide for exorcist priests. “I think today more than ever all the faithful of the Mexican Archdiocese should take more seriously the mandate of our Lord, who calls upon us to heal the sick and cast out demons and to not confuse people by saying that their sufferings are only the work of an overactive imagination,” said Father Fidel Pérez Gutiérrez to the Mexican daily La Vanguardia.

Arturo Farela, president of the National Fellowship of Christian and Evangelical Churches (Confraternice), said criminal groups have stepped up extortion, assaults and threats against ministers and bishops of different faiths in at least 10 states.

In Michoacan, during a patron saint celebration, local drug dealers stopped the celebrations and demanded money “to authorize it.” In Tamaulipas, evening Masses have been suspended due to threats of possible attacks against the faithful and priests. Amidst these pressures, the evangelical church is suffering the worst. Many pastors have decided to pay the extortion demands after some children were killed after refusing to pay a bribe.

Farel said that in Ciudad Juárez over 100 pastors were threatened. “There are ministers who are paying extortion money. Others have been threatened more than once. There is one who told me that they asked for 10,000 pesos a month.”

Víctor René Rodríguez Gómez, General Secretary of a Catholic organization, said that Catholic priests face daily threats and extortion attempts. The Diocese of Guadalajara offers some shocking details : “Demands have been increasing, from 5,000 or 10,000 pesos they now ask for 50,000 pesos , “said the spokesman.

The vicar of the Diocese of Nuevo Laredo describes what happens in neighboring Matamoros: “Extortion is more direct, Masses are suspended at night. The narcos have the upper hand. They do what they want.”